14 DAY TRIAL // In a rather unexpected move, Sony has announced a symbolic concession to Apple when it comes to the digital audio market. The company will now make its music management software compatible with AAC, the audio compression format Apple prefers to use.
While this change will enable users of certain types of walkman to listen to music imported from Apple's iTunes, it is of little practical relevance as, unless Apple decides to license its protection scheme DRM, songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store will still be incompatible with Sony's players.
However, the event is still worthy of note as Sony has long clung to its own proprietary codec, known as Atrac, and has tried to keep abreast of the iPod at all costs. This latest move is a tacit acknowledgment that it can no longer pretend to ignore the iPod, which has come to dominate the portable player market.
In April, Apple controlled 52 percent of the nation's portable digital music player market, in terms of units sold, according to market researcher BCN Inc. Sony is a distant second with a 15 percent share, followed by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., with a 7 percent share.
The new software, Called Sonic Stage CP will be available to users free of charge from the 25th of May, and is compatible with hard disk based Walkman A series products.